Sugar-mill machinery



1927' e. l. I'HEILE SUGAR MILL MACHINERY Filed Oct.

2, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheetl Aug. 23, 1927. 1,640,060

(5. l. THEILE SUGAR MILL MACHINERY Filed Oct. 2, 1925. 5 Sheets-SheetZ I I 3 1927 (5.. 1. THEILE SUGAR MILL MACHINERY 2. 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 3 Fil q' o t.

UNITED STATES GEORGE I. THEILE, OF HAMILTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE HOOVEN, OWElNS, RENTSCHLER COMPANY, OF HAMILTON, OHIO, -A CORPORATION? OF OHIO.

SUGAR-MILL MACHINERY.

i Application fll'ed October 2, 1925. Serial No. 60,136.

I This invention relates b the manufacture of sugar, and has'to do'particularly with the straining of the juice which is expressed from sugar cane and subsequently treated to remove the sugar therefrom. H I 7 One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide an improved form of strainer mechanism for use with juice expressing apparatus, which is simple in construction and effective in operation.

7 Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of this character which will give clearer juice, and driertrash or screenings than may be secured through the use of apparatus of the character heretofore known.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description thereof set out below when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

, In the drawing in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several-views thereof,

v Fig. 1 is afragmentary'plan view of a sugarmill embodying the form of juice straining mechanism constructed in accordance with this invention;

V Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionalview through the apparatus along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a complete mill constructed in accordance with the invention. 7

As is Well known thegreater part ofthe worlds supply of sugar is extracted from sugar cane. In the extraction of the juice in such manufacture of sugar the cane is passed through a succession of sets of heavy crushing or expresing rolls, under high pressure, which squeezes the juice out of the stalks of cane. The resulting squeezed cane, which is called bagasse, is passed successively through succeeding. sets or stands of rolls, the expressed juice, with entrained begasse and the like, running down from the rolls and being collected for subsequent treatment. Ordinarily the cane is passed first through one or more sets of toothed or grooved rolls called crushers which serve to break up the fibers of the cane so as to open the juice containing cells, at the same time squeezing considerable of the juice from the cane. The crushed cane is then passed through what some of the crushed cane, dirt or the like wh1ch, may be on the cane, and other extraneous materials travel, in greater or less quantity, with the juice and must be removed before the juice can be refined to form sugar. The first step in the treatment of the juice after it is expressed, therefore, is to strain it so as to remove the greater part of those solid impurities which may be present, such' as cane fiber, and the like. It has been the practice heretofore to provide sugar mills, of the kind generally described above, with collecting troughs associated with the several juice extracting rolls for receiving the juice, and its impurities, from these rolls and tofeed the juice onto a strainer which runs alongside the length of the entire mill. Underneath this screen or strainer is a tr'oughwhich collects the strained juice and from which it is drawn off for further treatment. Traveling over the top of this strainer or screen is some conveyor or other means which causes the screenings to travel along the screen surface. In this conventional construction all of the 'uic e from all of the rolls is delivered onto t e same strainer, but at different points thereof, and all of the screeningsare caused to travel along the surface of this strainer in the same direction, being thus'subjected to recurrent soaking with juice while doing so.

In the form of apparatus shown in the accompanying drawing the defects inherent in the forms of straining apparatusheretofore used are avoided. As shown in the drawing the numeral 10 designates the crusher, or the first set of toothed rolls PATENT OFFICE. I

which act to break up the cane and open the juice containing cells, and the numeral 11 the first set'of mill rolls. Juice from this 16 associated therewith, also having an out let or delivery pipe 17 through which the juice flows to the juice strainer 20. As shown this pipe 17 leads into the spout 13 and they thus empty in common onto the screen of this juice strainer. The screen or strainer 20 overlies a juice pan 21. juice flows onto this screen it passes therethrough into the pan 21 beneath the screen and the trash and other extraneous material'remains on the screen. This screen may be of any conventional structure as the particular character and the material forming the screen as well the openings of the screen need not vary from the heretofore conventional practice. And the pan beneath the screen receiving the juice may be of any desired character. Very satisfactory operation has been secured where these pans are made of sheet metal, and supported in any suitable way upon the mill foundation, or from the mill structure. This juice strainer is arranged parallel to the sugar mill as a whole, and to one side thereof.

Cooperating withthe screen 20 is a flight conveyor designated generally by the numeral'25. This conveyor may be of any suitable conventional character and is shown as comprising a series of wooden slats 26 mounted within spaced endless chains 27., or the like, which are driven by a pulley or sprocket wheel 28 from a motor 29, or any other suitable power sources. The strainer 20 is of only such length that sutlicient screen surface will be provided for securing effective straining of the juice from the trash. As shown, this strainer lies alongside the third mill, and the screen 20 at one end extends downwardly in a lip or chute 30, through which the screenings upon the screen are ted into a horizontal conveyor trough 35 located beneath the strainer 20.

The juice from the third mill 10 and fourth mill 41 is collected in the same way as already described, in the collecting pans 42 and 13v respectively, from which it is fed through delivery pipes 4A and 15 to the juice strainer 5() which is similar in construction to the strainer 20 described above. Associated with this juice strainer 50 is a drag or slide conveyor of the kind described above, and operated in a similar manner.

This conveyor is adapted to move the screenin s in the direction of the arrow 53,

and to feed them through the chute 54:, preterably arranged at that end which is adjacent to chute 30 of the strainer 20, into the horizontal conveyor trough 35. This arrangement need not necessarily be followed as the parts can be arranged in any As the- This conveyor trough also; has atlight con veyor 61, of the character described above, lndependently operated by a motor 62 or the like which in turn moves the material received in thetrough upwardly and into the trough 63 which has a scroll conveyor 64 therein, which is operated also by the motor 62 together with the flight conveyor 61. Adjacent itstree end the scroll conveyor trough 63 is provided withan opening 65 through which the screenings are fed back into the carrier connecting the first and second mills so that it passes with the bagasse stream through the remaining mills. 1 V I Any desired number of mills may be used, some installations having as high as six or seven stands of mills. as shown diagrammatically in the drawing. 'Also the juice from each mill may be screened separately or the juice from several mills may be coin bined as desired and to suit requirements, and the arrangement shown needpnot be adhered to. v

As shown diagrammatically the fifth and sixth mills, and.71, are providechwith' a common juice strainer 72 an d with collect ing pans and-delivery pipes for feeding the juice to. the strainer "as described above. There is also a flightconveyor,designated generally- 7 5 for feeding the screenings into the conveyor trough 35, the'flight conveyor in this case being also independently driven by its own motor as described above. The seventh mil] 80 has a collecting pan and clelivery spout which feeds" the juice onto the strainer 81, which also has a flight conveyor 82 for feeding. the screenings into theconveyor trough 35. Each juice strainer operates independently of the others and feeds all the screenings into the common conveyor trough 35 whence they are returned to the bagasse stream.

The apparatus thus described is very much superior to the conventional juice strainers as heretofore used. In the conventional .type of strainer, which comprises one big strainer arranged parallel to the length of the mill or alongside the several sets of rolls, there is a separate juice delivery pipe, or inlet, to the one big strainer from each mill or combination of mills. 'The material delivered onto this one big strainer at the crusher end is dragged over the surface of the screen, the juice straining ofi as this is done. As this screened material moves along the screen it passes successively under the spout or juice delivery pipe leading from; each succeeding juice collecting pan and is resaturated with juice by the fresh'juice and J1 of any other.

material delivered onto the screen at that point The material on the screen is therefore soaked afresh with juice at each such point. But with the form of device described, where separate screens are provided for each mill or for certain sets of mills, and the separate screens are arranged independently alongside the mills, the juice is strained from the trash independently by each strainerand this dried trash is independently delivered into the conveyor trough Consequently this screened trash does not again come in contact with the juice. This will, therefore, give clearer juice and drier trash. Furthermore, because of the arrangement shown, the size of each strainer unit may beindependently adjusted to suit the volume of material delivered to it by the mills which it serves, and each conveyor may be independently adjusted to accord with the quantity of screenings which it must handle. Or, any juice straineig or conveyor, may be cut out of operation without affecting the operation Also the screening surface being shorter is more easily kept clean, more readily replaced, and less likely to wear rapidly.

lVhile the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for extracting juice from sugar cane and the like, comprising aplurality of sets of rolls, a'plurality of juice strainers arranged alongside the ends of said sets of'rolls, means for feeding to each of said strainers juice from certain of said sets of rolls, each strainer acting independently to strain the juice fed thereto, means associated with each strainer for removing the screenings therefrom, and a common conveyor means for receiving the screenings vremoved from the several strainers to return said screenings to the bagasse passing through the rolls.

'2. Apparatus for extracting juice from sugar cane and the like, comprising a plurality of sets of rolls, a plurality of spaced juice strainers arranged alongside the ends of said rolls, means for feeding to each juice strainer the juice from certain of the said sets of rolls, independently operating means for removing the screenings from each of the said juice strainers, a common conveyor associated with the several juice strainers to receive the screenings removed from the said juice strainer, and a second conveyor cooperating with the common conveyor to receive the screenings and return them to the bagasse passing through the rolls, said second conveyor com rising a horizontal portion arranged a ove the bagasse stream and an inclined portion leading rip to said horizontal portion.

3. n apparatus for extracting juice from sugar cane and thelike, comprising a plurality of sets of rolls through which the cane is passed to express the juice therefrom, means for straining the expressed juice comprising a plurality of sets of strainers arranged alongside the ends of the rolls, means for feeding to each strainer the juice from certain of the said rolls, each strainer acting to independently strain the juice fed thereto, the said strainers being arranged generally alongside the apparatus in alignment and with the adjacent ends spaced apart, a. chute arranged between each two adjacent ends, means associated with each strainer for moving the screenings along said strainer toward one end thereof to pass through the chute arranged at such end, a commonv conveyor positioned beneath the said chutes to receive the screenings passing therethrough, and a. second conveyor associated with the common conveyor to receive the said screenings and return them to the bagasse to again ass through the rolls.

4. Apparatus o the character described, comprising crushing rolls, a screen arranged alongside the ends of said crushing rolls, collecting means associated with said rolls and said screen, means for feeding onto the screen the material collected from the rolls, a conveyor associated with said screen for removing the screenings therefrom, and means for returning the removed screenings to again pass through the rolls.

5. Apparatus for extracting juice' from sugar cane and the like, comprising a plurality of sets of rolls, a plurality of independent juice strainers arranged alon side said rolls and parallel with the pat of travel of the cane, and means for feeding to said juice strainers the juice after its separation from the bagasse from certain of said sets of rolls, to independently strain the juice from the said several sets of rolls.

In testimony'whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

GEORGE 1. THEILE. 

